diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/haskell-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/haskell-packages.nix
index 15d4cf3f213a..3e59bf872d53 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/haskell-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/haskell-packages.nix
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ in {
     };
     ghc844 = callPackage ../development/compilers/ghc/8.4.4.nix {
       bootPkgs = packages.ghc822Binary;
-      inherit (buildPackages.python3Packages) sphinx;
+      sphinx = null;            # broken with sphinx 1.8.x
       buildLlvmPackages = buildPackages.llvmPackages_5;
       llvmPackages = pkgs.llvmPackages_5;
     };